Door construction



Oct. 6, 1931. J. A. LOETSCHER DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed Ma-roh 13, 193dPatented Oct. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES;

PATENT FF CE. 1'

JOHN A. Lonrscnan, or nUBuQun, IOWA, AssIeNoR'roFAnLnY momma mare.

(10., OF DUBU QUE, IOWA, A CORPORATION OF 'IOVVA noon. consrnuc'rron,

Application filed MarchlS, 1930 v series in). 425,402. f

economies in the amount and kind of mate- 7 rial used, without anattendant sacrifice of quality or appearance of the product. Gonsideringa standard style ofpanelled door for instance, the greater bulk of the-material is made up of the stiles and rails, that is, the heavy outerframe members which may run from 1 to 2 inches in thickness and 5 to 6inches in width, depending on the style of door being made. Clearlumber,free from knots and blemishes, is generally specified for doorconstruction, although relatively expensive, due to the care required inselection and the waste involved. Moreover, the v the (loorta'ken on1111s 3-3 of Figure 1;

' increase in cost of clear lumber is directly proportional to thewidth-and thickness-of the material used, and for the obvious reasonthat the greater the cross-sectional area the greater the degree of carerequired in its selection. It follows therefore that where a certainwidth and thickness of material is called? for, it is cheaper to use twonarrow widths "of material joined edge-to-edge than one solid pieceprovided a joint can be made which willfnot open with the warping orshrinking of the materials, On thisaccount',it is quite impossible tomake a perfectly flush edge-to- H j rails are located approximatelymidway of edge joint between two pieces of material'of the samethickness, but it can beaccom'plished set into the edge' of the otherwitha tongue and groove joint. A r

While this construction-is perfectly satisfactory, so faras the door isconcerned, it

does, however, give rise toone difficulty,

vnamely, the installation of the lock casings which are generally setinto'a' cavity cutin the forward edge of the door frame: Lock casingsare madein standard or stock sizes,

and these are generally too"largeto be apif one of the pieces is reducedin thickness and plied to a door'having the inner portion of the I frameof a reduced thickness. Special sizes are obtainable, but this meansdelay and added expense to the contractor who installs the doors,and'therefore it is manifestly betr5 'ter practice to construct' thedoors to take standard lock casings which can be obtained specialequipment. g V I I The'object of the present invention is, therefore, toprovide a door construction in which advantage is taken of the moreeconomic construction and yetpermit'stock size lock casings and fittingsto be installed.

A preferred embodiment of my'invention is disclosed in theac'co1npa.nying drawings,

at any hardware supply store, than to specify in which Figure 1 is aview in front elevation of ia door constructed in" accordance with theinvention; 1

Figure through the door Figure 1; n n

Figure 3 is a view in cross section through 2 is a view in'verticalsection as taken on line 22 of Figure 4 is an enlarged detail sectiontaken on line H of Figure 1 and 5 r 1 Figureb is an enlargeddetailsection taken online"5'- ,5 of Figure 1. i

The doorillustrated is made up generally go of an outer'frame consistingof vertical stiles 1, 1, a top rail 2 and a bottom rail 3 of, say, 1% or15% inches in thickness surrounding three thin central panels i, 5, and6 of, say, or inches-in thickness and separated hy5 two parallel crossrails 7, 7 of the same thickness as the outer stiles andrails. Thecrossthe height of the door, and fairly close to{ gether, so that theintermediate panel 5 is on quite narrow while the 'upper' and lower"panels' i and 6 are considerably widerfthe upper panel being the largerof thetwo.

-While the-height of the panels may vary, the

only requirement is that the locks which is usually jplaced at aprescribed height'above thefloor along the frontedgeof the door shall"be located between the two cross rails 7,7,

The -stiles l, 1 are, say, 3 or 3 /,inches'in v width; the top rail 2"about the same width,

while the bottom rail 2 is usually considerably wider, say, 8 inches,these members being joined at their ends by dowelled or mortise andtenon joints.

In makin up these outer stiles and rails, the mater-Ii used is ofmandard thickness, but omidemhly less in width than is the reuirementfor this particular grade of door.

or exam 1e, if the specifications call for a m stile in es in widthythewidth of the stile member 1 may be only 3 inches, the full width of thestile being obtained by adding a narrow stile 2 inches in width alongthe inner edge of the outer stile 1 which extends between the same andthe thin central panel. 11km sin the nt construction the outer files i,-1 an .zrails 2, 3, and 7 are made of pimel of lumber of full thicknessbutof red!!! Widfll, to iforma separate outer frame,

a Hubris increased to the standard width by .mower'supplementm-y innerstile :and rail is forming inner iirames surrounding the hrger and lowerpanels 4 and 6. Each inner rame consists of a stile 9 and a 2' rail 10joined together at their ends by a cflflnlhd or mortise and tenon jointand along their-outer edgesto the inner edges of the outer iramemembersand the cross rails 7, 7 in a manner rpressntly described. The E Mutantof the intermediate panel 5 is mrdifierentfmm-that of'theupper and loweranels 4 and 6 in that there isno inner itand the heavier frame anembereuumnndingit, although short vertical I stile sections 11, 11 areprovided at eachend, which meapend to the stiles 9, 9along thonefiiolloflges of the'npperand lower panels.

In the case of the inner stiles and fill 115i),

I) and :10, 10 :forming the inner frames for the-upperand [lower panels,it will be noted that they are thinner than the outer stiles andrails-the diflerencebeingmay, one-quariehofmninch. Each inner stile andrailhas a tongue and groove connection with its cor- 'ng outer stile andrail, the inner odges aftthe outer stilesiand rails'beingrab- WM form adeep square groove :12, with right-angled shoulders or offsets12woneither aside, whilethe outer edges of the innerstiles and mile areformed with tongues 13 to :-fit within 'the grooves. the joints beingmade finale 'by applying :glue to the contacting surfaces. Theinneredges of these stiles and JIM-and zlflnrepre'ferably beveledandnibbated-to recoivetheedges of the thin panels 4 mud-6., this (being alm-true of the inner mdgoa o fvthe croaarails'f. 7, which have directconnection with the-top'and bottom edges of lhe intermediate panel 5,withoutn narrow r rail=betweeu illherahert innerstiles 1], T1 ateither'side ofthedntermediatepanel 5, are-similar'in'a'll rmpeots tothe-stiles-B, 9 except thatthey have 'the lamethiclmess-as theouterrstiles 1.1 so thdhtbe portions ofithe vertical stiles between thecross rails 7 7 are of uniform and full thickness throughout theirentire width.

Manifestly it is in one of these portions of the stiles that the lock isto be installed, and it follows that the increased thickness of \theinnerstiles 11, 11 makes .it possible to out the square cavity for thelock casing 8a which is assumed to be of a standard size for the door,and which otherwise could-not beaccomplished without first building upthe inner stile to the same thickness as the outer stile, and thismanifestly would mean additional labor and a patchy undertaking atvbest. Thus as shown in Figure 1, the lock casing would be sunk wellinto the innerstile section 11,-but with the same thickness ofstilethroughout the installation can be made as readily as though the stilewereso'lid throughout its full width. Likewise in applying theescutcheon plates 8?) of i the lock on the outer faces of thedoor,.there is an ample width of flush surface for them .to face againstwithout having their inner edges projectingover a shoulder as wouldotherwise bethe case.

Such a'door construction therefore makes tit possible to-ta'keadvantageof the economy in oostof manufacture by utilizing materials of differentwidth and thickness forthe stiles and rails and at the same time solvesthe problem of using standard locks without ineaessitating anysubsequent alterations or detracting from the general appearance ofithedoor.

Havingset .forth .a preferred vembodiment of my invention,

1 claim:

1. A door constructioncomprising vertical stiles, top, bottom, andintermediate crossrails :consisting of relatively narrow lengths ofmaterial ,joined together edge-twedge, and thin panels :fitted ,into'thespaces surrounded by said stiles and rails, theinaterial forming theinner portions of said stiles and rails on opposite sides of thecross-rails being of res duced thickness, and the portions forming thestilesof the panel intermediate said crossrails being of equalthickness.

2. A doorconstruction comprising vertical stiles, top and bottom railsjoined together at theirends to tform anouter frame and consisting oftwo lengthsof material joined togather edge-toedge, a pair ofcross-rails spaoedepart-adjacentthe central portions of the door anddividing-the frame into three rectangularispaces, and thimpanelsfittedinto said spaces, the innermost lengths of material comprising-saidstiles and rails being of [reduced thickness and forming separate framessurroundingthe panels-above and be-' low saidcross-rails, :and thelengths forming the stiles'adjacent the intermediate panel being of'thesamethickness as the outer frame. 3. A-door construction-comprising anouter frameof stiles, top and bottom rails and a F pair of parallelspaced cross-rails intermediate said top and bottom rails, an innerframe of stiles and rails of reduced thickness fitted into the outerframe above and below said cross-rails, inner stiles joined edge-to-edgewith the stiles of said outer frame and extending between saidcross-rails and panels fitted into said inner frames and in the spaceincluded by said cross-rails and inner stiles, the latter having thesame thickness as said outer stiles. V

4. A door construction comprising rela tively narrow stiles and railsforming an outer frame of predetermined thickness, a pair of cross-railsof the same thickness spaced apart intermediate the top and bottomrails, inner stiles and rails of decreased thickness forming separateframes fitted into the spaces in said outer frame surrounding the spacesenclosed on either side of said cross-rails, and having tongue andgroove cennection along their edges therewith, thin panels surrounded bysaid inner frames, and a panel in the space between said cross-rails,the ends of said panel being flanked by narrow inner stiles of the samethickness as the adjacent portion of the outer stiles.

5. A door construction comprising relatively narrow stiles and railsforming an outer frame of predetermined thickness, a pair of cross-railsof the same thickness spaced apart intermediate the top and bottomrails, inner stiles and rails of decreased thickness forming relativelynarrow frames surrounding the spaces enclosed by the stiles and rails,of the outer frame and said crossrails, thin panels surrounded by saidinner frames, inner stiles of the same thickness as the stiles of saidouter frame extending vertically at each end of the space between saidcross-rails, and a panel fitted into the adjacent edges of saidcross-rails and said last mentioned inner stiles.

Signed at Dubuque, Iowa, this 7th day of March, 1930.

- JOHN A. LOETSCHER.

